Sempra agrees price increase with engineers Bechtel to build Port Arthur LNG in Texas for $10.5 billion
US energy company Sempra, operator of the Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana, has signed an amended engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with engineering firm Bechtel Energy for the Port Arthur LNG export project in Texas.
Bechtel and the Sempra unit, Sempra Infrastructure, have amended the EPC contract for the proposed Phase 1 liquefaction project in Jefferson County in Texas to a new price of approximately $10.5 billion.
“The execution of the final contract is a critical step in advancing Phase 1 of Port Arthur LNG toward a final investment decision,” said Justin Bird, Chief Executive of the Sempra Infrastructure unit.
“Based on robust customer interest, we know that Port Arthur LNG is highly attractive to the global market and we look forward to providing customers with access to secure, abundant and reliable US LNG,” added Bird.
Paul Marsden, President of Bechtel, said the firm was delighted to continue its partnership with Sempra after constructing the Cameron export plant at Hackberry.
“Alongside Sempra Infrastructure, Bechtel is ready to continue active construction in the Gulf Coast and bring more opportunities to the local region” added Marsden.
Contract scope
The Sempra EPC contract with Bechtel covers engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, start-up, performance testing and operator training activities for Phase 1 of the new Texas plant.
The Port Arthur Phase 1 project has all its permits and is expected to include an initial two liquefaction Trains with a combined 13.5 million tonnes per annum of output.
Sempra said it was already working on a similarly-sized Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 project with “active marketing” taking place. This would take total production eventually to 27 MTPA.
California-based Sempra has signed a series of supply deals for Port Arthur Phase 1 involving four companies.
They are the Polish Oil & Gas Company, the German utility RWE Supply & Trading, UK chemicals company INEOS and US major ConocoPhillips.
The Sempra Infrastructure unit of Sempra also contains the other LNG assets like the Cameron plant and the Costa Azul export project in Mexico.
Earlier in 2022 Sempra agreed to sell a 10 percent interest in Sempra Infrastructure Partners to a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the wealth fund in the United Arab Emirates, for $1.78Bln in cash.
The San Diego-based utility business of Sempra includes San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Gas Co.
